Chapter 1

Author's Note: Hey everyone! This is my very first fanfic, and I probably wouldn't even be writing it if I weren't so disgusted with the absolute lack of Pam and Ryan stories out there :) You don't have to read this if you don't like my pairing, and I doubt very many people do, but I don't know. Sometimes I just think Jim and Pam are so perfect that it's not even fun anymore. Honestly, the majority of the time I watch the show, I'm just in awe of all the Jim/Pam moments and my heart gives little flutters and my lips form a smile. But occasionally, there are just some Ryan and Pam glimpses and I'm just like "Aw!" I really started liking them in the Michael Scott Paper Company saga. Like the way Ryan says "Hey you," when Pam runs into his bowling alley. Or when Michael's on the phone with Dwight and doesn't understand Dwight's analogy, and Pam and Ryan just sit there pointing to her little notebook. That was the first scene where I was like "Oooh, I think I've found a new secret obsession!" Because for me, when my two favorite characters get together, I feel like my "mission" or whatever is over. Like everyone else, I loved Jim and Pam and I was rooting for them to get together when they weren't. But now they are, and it just doesn't seem as exciting. I don't know. But don't knock Ryan and Pam until you've tried them. Or until you've read my story :D

Anyway, this story's going to consist of present-time posts and flashback posts. The flashbacks are going to take place after Jim leaves for Stamford, and the present-day posts start with The Office episode Dream Team. I'll alternate present-day posts and flashback posts with each update, starting with the present. In quite a few chapters I've written, I've taken lines straight from the dialogue of the episode I'm writing about. And sometimes I changed them a bit. So hopefully no one gets upset about that. And this is centered mainly around Pam, so the majority of statements in italics will be her thoughts. Later on, I might do a couple of posts focused on Ryan (or Jim), but right now it's all Pam. I'll let you know if it changes. By the way, author's notes won't be this long ever again. I just felt the need to defend my Ryan and Pam pairing and explain what my story will be like.

Lalala, I don't own anything. Enjoy!

"Michael, I really think we should try to do something," Pam paused, sighing. "Now." It had been a couple days since she had quit her job as a receptionist at Dunder Mifflin, and now she was sitting in Michael Scott's condo, watching him perform a meager workout in a robe that barely covered his… dangling participle. He turned slightly to look into her eyes.

"Uh, in case you haven't noticed, Pam," he sassily replied. Since she had dumped egg all over him earlier, his tone hadn't been so friendly. "I am doing something. I'm strengthening my core. All my cores." She sighed once more and looked at the list clutched in her hand.

1. Work out.

2. Eat an enormous breakfast…

she had scrawled, and a check mark was sarcastically placed beside each number. She bit her lip before adding a third item to the notebook.

3. Call Charles to beg for my job back.

Michael got up from his machinery and Pam tore her eyes away from the words.

"Yeah, you are. But I thought maybe we could do something that had more to do with the Michael Scott Paper Company. Or get you dressed! Which would actually help some of the members in the Michael Scott Paper Company…" Pam muttered that last part so he couldn't hear. She had seen his baguette (as Jim had called it) once before, and definitely didn't want to go through that again.

Michael grunted in response, and she knew she hadn't gotten anywhere. "Something like what, Pam!? I can't run my own paper company! What were we thinking? This whole thing was a mistake. We can't do this. I can't do this. I deserve to have egg in my Crocs." Pam sighed again. She had probably sighed more times today, in her boss's living room, than she had in her entire life. But this sigh was different. This wasn't a "I'm so angry at you, Michael" sigh. It was more like her "You're not a failure, Michael" sigh. She knelt beside him and put a reassuring hand on his shoulder. He turned his face away from her, obviously ashamed.

"Michael, maybe you're right." His head whipped toward her face so quickly, Pam had gotten whiplash just watching. Obviously he was expecting to hear one of her "It will be okay" talks. "Maybe we did make a mistake by quitting Dunder Mifflin. And maybe we can't do this. But we'll never know unless we try." The two sat in silence for a while as Pam's words sunk into Michael's mind. Suddenly, he stood up with an air of confidence. She got to her feet as well and picked up the discarded list. "So?"

"So," he responded confidently, easing her tension a little. "Let's do something. Let's land a hundred clients." Her apprehension returned and she sighed another time.

"That seems a little impossible. Why don't we try something smaller?" He glared at her for a moment before wiping the expression from his face.

"Fine, Pamcake." She smiled a little at the nickname. Maybe things would be a little more normal soon. "Let's… Assemble a sales team. A dream team!" Her smile grew wider as she asked who and got her pen and notebook ready. "Any chance Jim will come on board?" he asked, hopeful.

"I don't think that's going to happen, Michael," she sympathetically replied.

"What about Dwight!? Dwight loves me. Of course he'll join us! …Right?" Pam bit her lip at the thought. Working with Dwight again? Well, it would make the new job feel more like home. She shuddered at that thought. Mental note: never think of Dwight as "home" again. She thought about the possibly of Dwight coming to join their company with a more… professional stance. As much as Dwight did love Michael, his loyalty ran deeper than Michael understood. Pam knew he wouldn't give up his job.

"Why don't we try to think about hiring people that don't currently work for Dunder Mifflin?"

"You're right, you're right. That's why I brought you with me, Pamsicle!" Michael exclaimed. Pam decided not to remind him that she quit her secretarial job to become a saleswoman, not that he really brought her with him. "Ummmm," Michael hummed as he paced his living room. Suddenly, he snapped his fingers and whirled toward Pam with such an excitement in his eyes that she had to smile back. "I've got it! Ryan!" The grin left her face as quickly as it had appeared.

"What? No. No, Michael. We're not hiring Ryan," she replied. She attempted to sound as strong as she normally does, but her voice came out weak and small. It had cracked when she whispered her former coworker's name. Luckily, Michael was too excited about the prospect of working with his so-called "prodigy" again that he hadn't noticed.

"Oh, come on, Pam!" he squealed. "It's Ryan! It's perfect!" Michael's eyes shone with admiration and enthusiasm. "Look, Ryan is smart." I know. "Ryan is talented." I know. "Ryan is confident." I know. "Ryan is char… caris… crismat…"

"Charismatic?" she supplied.

"Yes!" He shouted, pointing at her mouth for professing such a brilliant statement. "Yes, Ryan is charis… Ryan is that thing." I know. "And Ryan is sexy."

I know.